Katich accuses Clarke of ruining his career

Accusing Michael Clarke of playing a role in removing him from the list of Cricket Australia contracts, Simon Katich said he would never be able to wear a baggy green again as long as the team is led by the present skipper.

Katich, who had earlier denied that his and Clarke’s infamous dressing—room spat had anything to do with him losing out on the central contract, did a U-turn and said that the incident actually played a significant part.

“I think you don’t have to be Einstein to figure out that it’s not just the selectors that had a part in sending me on my way,” Katich told reporters.

“I mean to be brutally honest, obviously what happened in the dressing room here a few years ago didn’t help my cause.

And obviously the captain and coach are selectors,” he added.

Katich was embroiled in an altercation with Clarke after the Sydney Test against South Africa in January 2009, where he reportedly grabbed the latter by the throat in the dressing room after an argument had developed over when the team song would be sung.

And the former Test opener feels the unfortunate incident would continue to be a hindrance to his international comeback, despite the fact that a new national selector John Inverarity has been appointed in place of former chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch.

“Just because he (Inverarity) is going to be chairman of selectors or whatever role it is, I wouldn’t have thought that’d make too much difference,” said Katich, who made a century for New South Wales in a drawn Sheffield Shield match on Friday.

Asked if he could ever expect to play for Australia while Clarke is the captain, Katich said, “I wouldn’t have thought so. That’s probably why I’m in this position in the first place.”

Katich also expressed his disappointment at not receiving any phone call from the CA’s Melbourne headquarters to discuss his removal.

“No one from Cricket Australia has been in contact with me since. I just think that no—one’s been in touch since that happened, it’s pretty disrespectful I think from my personal point of view. Given I’ve been contracted for 11 years, to not have any contact whatsoever is pretty disappointing,” Katich said.

“As Chris Rogers said, that’s blatantly rude to be honest.

It’s just common courtesy to give someone a call back. I enjoy playing my cricket here, so that’s why I’m still playing. A big part of that was I had a lot of support at the time when the axing happened, so to have that support has spurred me on to keep playing.

“Hopefully some good will come out of my situation. I wasn’t the only one to go through it, plenty of players have felt the same frustration,” he added.